CHAPTER XXXII

MARCH TO FORT BENTON.--MARSHALING THE TRIBES

Nez Perces and Flatheads to hunt south of Missouri pending council--Prairie Plateau on summit of Rocky Mountains--Elk for supper--Lewis and Clark's Pass--Management of train--Traverse the plains--Abundant game--Bewildering buffalo trails--Reach Fort Benton--Governor Stevens meets Commissioner Cumming on Milk River--Boats belated--Provisions exhausted--Leathery jerked meat--Pemmican two years old--Hunting buffalo on Judith--Bighorn at Citadel Rock--Metsic, the hunter--Two thousand western Indians fraternizing with Blackfeet--Stolen horses--Doty recovers them--Cumming claims sole authority--Forced to subside into proper place--He stigmatizes Blackfeet and country--Disagrees on all points--Governor Stevens's views--A million and a half buffalo find sustenance on these plains 92